Lead Process Engineer

We are building the optical layer that the next generation of AI and quantum infrastructure will run on. Our first product is an optical circuit switch built on a spatial light modulator. As Lead Process Engineer, you will build our fabrication capability from the ground up. You will establish new process lines in our research cleanroom in Lausanne, develop new processes for our electro-optic devices, and set up collaborations with external foundries. You will lead our process team and own fab delivery, from strategy to measured wafers. This role suits a foundry program manager experienced in coordinating complex projects and large engineering teams, who now wants to build a fabrication capability at an early-stage company.

• Process lines. Establish new process lines in our research cleanroom: tool selection and qualification, baseline recipes and process control.
• New processes. Develop processes for electro-optic films, electrodes, optical coatings and photonic cavity structures.
• Foundry partnerships. Identify, qualify and build collaborations with external foundries and suppliers. Own the interface, lead times and run releases.
• Fab strategy. Choose processes and partners that fit device requirements, cost and schedule. Assign an owner and a fallback to each critical risk.
• Fabrication packages. Release reviewed run packages: tolerances, test structures, process splits, metrology and acceptance criteria.
• Lot reviews. Lead lot reviews on traceable process and optical/electrical data. Separate design, fabrication and measurement causes, and decide the next experiment.
• Team leadership. Hire, mentor and lead process engineers. Make recipes and release checks reproducible by others.
• Cross-team work. Translate device tolerances from design and physics into a controllable process window.

• Master's degree (or higher) in physics, materials science, photonics, electrical engineering or a related discipline.
• At least 10 years of process engineering experience in a semiconductor or photonics foundry.
• Track record setting up new process lines or new processes, from tool qualification to stable yield.
• Several fabrication and measurement iterations you personally led, with partner choices and changes you can explain.
• Experience qualifying and managing external foundries and suppliers.
• Experience leading and developing engineers.
• Clear written and verbal communication, fluent English.
• Candid reporting of failed runs, with decisions based on data.

• Thin-film electro-optic integration: lithium niobate or tantalate, barium titanate (BTO), or EO polymers.
• Experience with various photonic cavities, including vertical resonators and optical coatings.
• Wafer bonding and heterogeneous integration.
• Building a design library or PDK from measured process data.
• A network in the European photonics foundry ecosystem.
• Experience managing complex foundry programs and process engineering teams.

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience.
• Equity and benefits available, to be agreed upon.